Flooding the zone...

while trying to keep our heads above water.

We’ve never been flooded with more information nor more challenged to make much if any sense of all of it. Most Americans (54%) are getting their news from Social Media platforms and even more when accessed through apps or the Web. Inherent in this data, is that thanks to algorithms people are getting information which in the main confirms their existing beliefs or biases, and from there polarization not only takes root but flourishes. Outrage always engages most rapidly and profoundly and given the problems that we face, outrage isn’t always an irrational response. Our dilemma is finding a middle ground that at least identifies a shared problem so that we can have an honest dialogue about the best way to deal with it.

We are not just dealing with our own ability to adapt to new ways of communicating information, we in the US are being subjected to a level of information warfare that defies quantification. Our enemies, those who would seek to replace the US in its position of global leadership, are aware that our economic and military might dwarves theirs and so to prevail use other means. Their goals are to sow disinformation and discord to undermine trust in democratic institutions, exploiting societal divisions and shaping public opinion to keep us angry at each to other weaken our sense of unity. By using troll farms, fake accounts and bots they hit hot button issues and in the words of one of our very own MAGA trolls, “Flood the zone with shit”…leaving us unable to cope and instead to look for easy answers to complex problems.

So then how do we navigate a path to truth amongst these influence operations and their spoofed news sites, hackers and leaks? Many of us still hold onto to a belief that mainstream media sources, while not always accurate and unbiased, still provide the most accurate information about what’s going on in the world. I read both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal for news though my agreement with the opinions of each widely varies. One of the consequences of both technology and the success of many if not most of these disinformation strategies and tactics is that many have lost faith and trust in mainstream media and in many other foundational US institutions. As the recent election and more to the point last week’s reaction to the death of a health insurance CEO showed, there is a significant part of the population that is “mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!”

I recently heard a story on one of my favorite podcasts, “This American Life” that gave me a glimmer of hope. It’s about a long time married couple who found themselves hopelessly divided over the state of the US and its politics. It got to the point where even after 28 years they were beginning to question the marriage itself. And then they discovered Tangle, www.readtangle.com. What they found was a news site that presented stories and issues with both sides of the political spectrum expressing their views. It allowed them as well as the rest of their readers a forum where thoughtful and intelligent differences can be aired and ultimately allow the reader to make a better informed decision about their own opinion.

It’s not corporately owned and relies on its readers and users to sustain itself. It’s careful in the use of language to not use expressions that are clear triggers to either side of the divide. There’s a free as well as a paid option and I’m going to give it a try as I think that noble efforts like these are worth our support, at least until they prove that we were wrong about them!

Post mortems of the election show that both sides believe that democracy is worth preserving (and that the other side was a danger to it!). If indeed we all care about the preservation of our system of government then finding common ground to engage in that fight is essential. The goal of an autocrat is well married to that of our current adversaries, that is to flood us with information that causes us to distrust one another as well as our institutions and it will take new ideas and tools like this one, if we’re to prevail in our mission to, as the oath of office states “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic”.